Making my own pepperoni for the first time!

Tonight I mixed up some homemade beef pepperoni! We had been buying turkey pepperoni from the grocery store, and it was quite expensive.

I was excited when Anne Jisca gave me her pepperoni recipe! I can't wait to bake it (in 2 more days!) and try some! It smelled delicious when I was mixing it up. :)

I have been wanting to make my own pepperoni for months now, and finally decided that the best way to make myself make my own would be to just not buy any more from the store! That way, if we want pepperoni, we have to make it! :)

I have used this tactic with other things that I was having difficulty giving up (like store-bought cream of chicken soup, stuffing mixes, chicken bouillon, using paper napkins, etc.) and it seems to magically work. ;) When I have one or two cans or packages of something "just in case I don't have time to make homemade", I inevitably end up using what's convenient.

Gradually I am replacing more and more factory-processed things with homemade, and I love it! I love not having to spend so much money at the store. I love it that I never really "run out" of things like bread crumbs or napkins or laundry soap.

Comments

Certainly don't be embarrassed! I never really thought about it before Anne Jisca sent me her recipe! :D There's always new things to learn... there are a LOT of cooking-related things I know nothing about! :D

I read the post about laundry soap (making it, using it). One of my former students used to dump in a can of generic cola with her boyfriends icky factory clothes. They came out smelling perfect every time. I know you probably don't buy cola very often but perhaps "in the name of research" LOL you could indulge?

Very interesting, Katie! I wonder what would be in the cola that would cause it to to eliminate laundry odors? I should look and see if we have any old cans of soda I can use. We got some free with rebate a year ago and haven't used it all. :) Tomorrow morning I'll be due to wash work clothes again, so I'll let you know what I think of the idea! :)

Andrea, yes, the pepperoni is supposed to be baked. I think the confusing part is about baking it on a "grill", which is just a special rack for over a pan that allows the excess grease to drain while it bakes. I'm going to try to edit the recipe for clarity, because you're the second person to ask. :)

Anne Jisca, I will definitely blog about the pepperoni when we've tried it! :)

Hi Tammy. I forgot my username/PW. LOL Sorry to post anonymously. I was wondering how to make uncured pepperoni maybe using lactic acid or something? I think curing meats with nitrates is supposed to be unhealthy. Any ideas of alternatives?

I'm not really familiar with lactic acid, so I can't really give any help there.

I think that eating the nitrates isn't the healthiest thing. However, I think my husband wants pepperoni on his pizza and lunchmeat on his sandwiches! So although we don't use a large amount of these things, I try to make my own to save money and get a much higher-quality product. :)

That said, we have tried making beef jerkey without the Tender Quick (which is the curing salt that contains nitrates). The taste and texture was inferior (and the meat was brown instead of red) and it needed to be eaten within a reasonable amount of time and stored in the refrigerator (or frozen until used).

Personally, I would rather go without beef jerkey, pepperoni, lunchmeat, etc. than make it without the tender-quick. But in answer to your question, it can be done; just make sure you freeze or refrigerate even something dried, like beef jerkey. :)

As for good, healthy alternatives, maybe someone else has a suggestion on that?

Isn't this actually more of a summer sausage rather then a pepperoni? pepperoni from my understanding is made first off from pork and beef, and it is dried cured as a standard (which can be tricky due to bothulism, which is why either sodium nitrate or nitrite is used, depends if your smoking or just dry curing without heat or smoke. pink salt contains ruffly 6.25% sodium nitrite, and can be smoked. the nitrates turn to nitrites slowly over time and hold up not being heated, which you dont want cause they turn to nitrosamines...if your wondering how that can be, if you cook it on say a pizza, the answer is, by that time they chemically change.) right? as a side note, most freeze their pork for a duration as a precaution against trichinosis I think, prior to grinding and mixing. this would be a good recipe though for a summer sausage, and I've used a simular one for my venison sausage (which I mix actually half and half with beef.)

here is a good article on nitrites btw, imo.

http://www.extension.umn.edu/distribution/nutrition/DJ0974.html

This is how I understand it anyways, and I have easily made more then a hundred ponds of various pepperoni and sausages, as has my father before me, but always research information for yourself it just makes sense.

Isn't this actually more of a summer sausage rather then a pepperoni? pepperoni from my understanding is made first off from pork and beef, and it is dried cured as a standard (which can be tricky due to bothulism, which is why either sodium nitrate or nitrite is used, depends if your smoking or just dry curing without heat or smoke. pink salt contains ruffly 6.25% sodium nitrite, and can be smoked. the nitrates turn to nitrites slowly over time and hold up not being heated, which you dont want cause they turn to nitrosamines...if your wondering how that can be, if you cook it on say a pizza, the answer is, by that time they chemically change.) right? as a side note, most freeze their pork for a duration as a precaution against trichinosis I think, prior to grinding and mixing. this would be a good recipe though for a summer sausage, and I've used a simular one for my venison sausage (which I mix actually half and half with beef.)

here is a good article on nitrites btw, imo.

http://www.extension.umn.edu/distribution/nutrition/DJ0974.html

This is how I understand it anyways, and I have easily made more then a hundred ponds of various pepperoni and sausages, as has my father before me, but always research information for yourself it just makes sense.